The Mist
by booklover5784
Summary: A mortal named Kayla has a special ability: she can see through the Mist for both Greek and Egyptian gods. This is my second fanfic (I'm a newbie) so don't hate.
1. Prologue

Prologue

I carried my ice skates and left the house. The chilly wind of winter hit my face, so I wrap my scarf tight around my face. As I trudge through the snow, I think about my recent discoveries of the world. Being an adventurer and scholar is hard work, but fun. After completing my years of school and college at the age of twelve, I am eager to put my brains to use. After traveling around the world, the chilly Canadian forest was perfect for my next test.

I walk down the familiar rode down to the lake. Flashy signs and billboards spell: Warning! Do not skate on lake ice! I ignore the words and continue my journey. When I reach the edge of the lake, I take off my gloves and touch the cold surface. As I slowly take off my shoes and put on my skates, I wonder if this is a good idea. _Too late to go back_.

I step onto the thin ice, and start skating. The perfect swirls and lines create a drawing of the peculiar things I see on my adventures. When I finish, I stare at my masterpiece and start testing. My skates start drawing a perfect circle, around and around and around. When the ice starts to break, I begin counting in my head. _One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi…_

"Kayla!" The familiar voice startles me. I turn around and lose my step. There my father was, running towards me with my mother not far behind. "Kayla! The ice is dangerous!" Too late. My skates slide into the hole I made. As I fall into the hole, watching the ice form above me, preventing any signs of escaping the lake, I see the last peculiar thing of my life. A boy, wielding a sword, riding on a dark-colored pegasus. He looked determined, but kept losing his attitude every time his dark hair would fly into his face. I have seen him before, and I say his name, causing me to lose my remaining breath. "Percy Jackson."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Darkness. That's all I can see. Every direction seems to go on forever, yet I could be easily standing in a room painted to seem like an illusion. The latter theory could be true, except for the fact that I am standing on nothing. I float in the air in the neverending dimension, and I wonder when I'm going to move on. Unless this is the afterlife. This was a discovery I never thought I could achieve, that I never thought I could share with the world. Too bad my memory might be erased if I am reborn.

I look down to where my feet would have been, but all I see is a swirling gloop of silvery air. If this was my soul, my body was probably left down on Earth. I sigh. Although looking pretty was not my top priority, I did have a decent body. I think back to my moments at the mirror. Strong cheekbones, caramel hair that's shoulder length, and calming blue eyes. Unlike the pretty girls at school, my eyes could not pierce through the mind of people; my eyes could only calm down the people, even the ones with the greatest tempers. Speaking of eyes, how can I see the place I am in right now? I wish I had a mirror.

Before I could question my surroundings any further, two creatures appear in front of me. One of them is jackal-headed. He could be Anubis, according to my studies in Egyptian gods, but he keeps on flickering into a handsome young teen. This isn't the most unusual thing I have saw so far. The other man is godlike and gothic. Hades. The god keeps on changing into his Roman counterpart, Pluto. The two gods are arguing about something. When they notice me staring at them, Pluto clears his throat. "Kayla Preech?" I nod.

"Child prodigy, explorer, adventurer, works with scientists, historians, and archaeologists. You are extremely special, being able to see through both mythologies' Mist. We want to send your soul back to the human world in a new host body and discover the root of the Mist. Are we on the same page?"

"Yes, sir," I say. I am slightly surprised that my voice is the same, not some ghostlike sound. Anubis snickers at my expression, his teen version showing clearly. Though he is gorgeous, I don't show any feelings towards him. Why? During my travels, I have seen much more exotic, sweet youths. I don't even know Anubis, so I have no reason to be attracted to him.

"Actually, I wanted you to move on to the Afterworld. However, Hades and I cannot reach into an agreement to which world you belong to. So Hades suggested we let you go back to the mortal world to find out the root of your origins." I stare at Anubis, wondering why I am even here in the first place.

Hades sensed my silence, and he exclaimed, "Well, off you go! Surprise us." Then they were gone.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I look at my surroundings, watching the colors change from black to a blurry green and brown. I yelp as my soul suddenly bends and spins into a human shape. When it finishes, my soul hardens and bam! my new body has formed.

I touch the strands of curly blonde hair. I wonder if my eyes have the same calming effect as before. Suddenly, I see something coming from the trees. A young girl steps towards me. Her skin is a dark brown and her green hair is flowing around her like leaves. She wears a dress made of leaves, and smiles shyly at me.

"Hello, what's your name?" I ask. She is startled, and whispers, "You can see through the Mist." When I nod, she continues, "My name is Péfko. That's pine in Greek, by the way. I'm a tree nymph, or dryad, and I came here to tell you that you have beautiful eyes." Her voice is light and airy, like a falling leaf. "It's a serene blue. It reminds me of the sky on a calm day." I realize my eyes are the same, even if my host body has changed.

"Nice to meet you, Péfko. Where am I, and are there any more of your kind here?" I question.

Péfko nods, and answers, "You're in Central Park, New York City. My kind are currently resting in their host trees and shrubs. If you're looking for other humans, the path is in that direction." She points to my left, and I thank her. "Hopefully you can come back here!" she yells as I leave. I stick a thumbs up in the air, before I hear the sound of tree bark enclosing around her. Gone to sleep. I travel for a minute before I see a few pedestrians strolling along the path.

Whoosh. A strong gust of wind knocks me back into the trees. Whoosh. I battle against the winds, only to notice that the other people feel nothing. It must be a work of the gods. Which one, I'm not entirely sure. I let the wind lead me into a patch of dense shrubbery. When I enter, Poseidon appears before me.

"Listen, Kayla. The gods have a task for you. You must find other mortals who can see through the Mist, so you're going to go to one of my sons' house. Here are the directions," and he's gone. I look at the piece of paper that appears in my hand. Is this Percy Jackson's address? I dash to the path, down the sidewalks, and through the streets. When I reach his door, a middle-aged woman answers it.

"How can I help you?" she asks. Her blue eyes sparkle but seem to be tired. She runs a hand through her brown hair. She reeks of candy, but it's not enough to block the pungent smell of tobacco, alcohol, and cigars.

"Sally Jackson, am I correct?" She nods, and I introduce myself. "I'm Kayla Preech, and I understand that you can see through the Mist."

Sally's eyes go wide and she whispers, "You must know my son." I sigh and say, "I know his name, yes, but I don't personally know him. He is a demigod, correct?" Sally nods, slowly melting away her shock. When she recovers, she asks, "Right now I'm getting rid of the smell of my late husband. He passed away recently, but I feel no remorse. He was extremely abusive, so no hard feelings. Do you want to join me?" She winks, and I follow her into the apartment.  
As we're cleaning the living room, Sally tells me about her adventures with Percy before he left for Camp Half-Blood. She then tells me the directions to the camp, just in case. As knowledgeable as she seemed, she did not seem to know how she could see through the Mist. I tell her it's fine, and begin my journey to Camp Half-Blood.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I arrive at the camp easily without seeing any monsters. I walk up to the entrance when a force pushes me back onto the ground. I try again, this time touching the force field with a finger. It ripples, proving to not be extremely stable. After finding a rock and chucking it at the force field for a time, it shatters and forms a hole large enough for me to to through. As soon as I enter, magic ripples and another weak layer forms.

I trudge through the dirt path and see several kids walking around doing their camp activities. Judging by the large groups they huddle in, I could tell who their godly parents were. That group of pretty girls wearing lots of makeup? Aphrodite. The people in bed and seem to be half-asleep? Hypnos. Lots of minor gods had their own cabins with many demigods flowing out of them.

"Hello, Kayla," a familiar voice says. It startles me, and I see a nymph exiting from the trees. "Péfko?" I ask. The nymph shakes her. "I'm Kymatismós, a naiad," she gestured to the lake behind her. "Péfko told me that you were coming here, so I'm here to help you. You crossed through the borders because you broke through it, but you still have to fit in with the demigods. Here, wear this shirt." Kymastimós handed me an orange shirt with a pegasus embroidered on it. In big bold letters, "Camp Half-Blood" was written in a Greek font.

I put the t-shirt over my tank top, and the naiad sent me off. I started strolling around and some girls from the Aphrodite group came over to me. "Hi hon, I'm Drew. I was wondering if you're new, since you look lost. Also, you look like a child of Aphrodite, wanna go check with Chiron?" an Asian girl asks.

I politely shake my head, and Drew rolls her eyes. "Alright, come meet me at Cabin 10 if you need help fitting in." She smirks and struts away from me. I notice her then flirting with some heavily muscled boys from the Ares cabin. She suddenly turns serious when one of the boys point at me. Drew says something, and then the boys turn to face me with scowls.

They come walking towards me, spears drawn and mouths foaming with spit. I resist the urge to puke as the horrible stench of sweat reached me smelling distance. "So, this is the new kid," an ugly brother says to the stinkier one.

"Well, she's not much to look at. Let's give her a makeover, Sherman." The smell of his foul breath makes me gag. The brothers snicker at me, and take turns breathing large gasps of air. Each brother competes to top the breath before with a longer, stinkier one. When the half-brothers decide it's enough, Sherman takes his spear and slowly scrapes it against my face. I draw my breath as a trickle of blood slides smoothly down my cheek. Oh, if I die again, what will the gods do?

"Mark, you can have the honor of tasting first blood," Sherman grunts. Mark smirks nastily and lets the blood roll onto his finger. He sticks the finger in his mouth and smiles wistfully like a child eating cotton candy.

"Tastes great," Mark comments. Sherman smiles greedily and he starts poking me with his spear again. Little dots of red pop up and paint my face like chicken pox. I remain silent, because this is how school taught us to defend bullies. Mark whines that Sherman isn't going deep enough to taste "the good stuff", so Sherman lifts his spear above his head. He starts to hurtle the spear at my arm, but then I throw up all over his sweaty armor. This enrages him, and Sherman stars stabbing at my hand as a deep, melodious voice pulls Sherman away from his rage quit.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Sherman, Mark, what a delight to see you!" a handsome boy exclaims. Sherman and Mark smile at his greeting, feeling special. I was at first confused, until I realized how convincing his voice seemed. The boy's tone seemed genuine and real, though I could barely hear his quivering voice underneath the charmspeak.

"I thought Chiron instructed for you two to stop, *ahem*, horseplaying, but it seems that you guys got carried away." Sherman and Mark look ashamed of themselves, and Sherman gently pulls out the spear from my arm. I let out a small sigh of relief, and the boy smiles at me. "Now, let's get the poor girl cleaned up and you two should go train with the target dummies." I find myself getting up to my feet and Sherman and Mark leaving the area. Drew stands nearby, glaring at the boy, who I assume is her half-brother.

"My name is Caston," the boy says. He looks like he's from a Caribbean island, with messy, silky black hair and smooth brown skin the color of milk chocolate. He smiles at me, dimples showing on his cheek. Caston directs me to the Aphrodite cabin, decorated to look identical to Barbie's house. He laughs when I look at horror at the cabin, and says, "You'll get used to it." Caston uses charmspeak again, and I believe him.

Caston leads me into the bathroom, and gives me privacy while I undress and clean my wounds. When I'm done, one of his half-sisters comes in holding a fluffy pink bathrobe with a matching nightgown. I dress into it while she takes my dirty clothes stained with blood to wash. Caston is still in the cabin when I exit the bathroom, and he leads me to the campfire to be claimed by a godly parent. I panic briefly, hoping the gods have come up with a plan to mask my mortal identity.

We stand next to each other, away from the Drew's clique. Several demigod girls blush as Caston makes eye contact with them, and some attempt to flirt with him. When he escapes the wrath of one demigod, he mutters, "Being half-siblings with Drew means avoiding her horrible ways of charm," and I snicker.

The night gets darker as we wait for a sign of my godly parent. It rains down a few times, comforting me that the gods are creating a plan. By the time midnight rolls around, most demigods have left. Chiron gets frustrated, and is about to send me to Hermes' cabin until I glow pink. Poof! My blemishes and scabs are gone. Poof! I'm covered in perfect makeup and designer clothes. Drew groans, Sherman and Mark look guilty, and Caston seems disappointed. Chiron looks completely relieved that I've been claimed, and declares, "Aphrodite!"

I immediately throw up over the clothes. This time, Aphrodite doesn't bother to clean up the mess. Seriously, Aphrodite? Out of all the gods that could pretend to be my parent, I got the vainest one of all.

Caston smiles sympathetically at me, and jokes, "Welcome to the cabin of shallow, vain, and rude kids!" I wasn't worried about the kids. I was worried that I couldn't study and explore after being claimed.  
As the kids walk back to their cabins, I snuggle into a comfy pink bed. My makeup and dirty clothes were gone, replaced with the previous bathrobe and nightgown. Aphrodite was kind enough to leave my body clean of any scab, so my skin looked perfectly flawless. I look around the room, studying my temporary half-siblings, and note that there are less boys than girls. Nonetheless, the boys' handsomeness made up for the whole bowl of makeup covered noodles. Caston was probably the most handsome, and probably the kindest, of the four boys. When I watch one particular boy closely, I notice him scrunching up his eyes in concentration. As time passes, he develops tanner skin, darker and longer hair, and then I realize he's trying to look like Caston. I laugh under my breath at this, thinking these wonderful looking demons were still jealous of each other. As the night wears on, I fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"Wakeup, Kayla, wakeup!"

A soft and sweet voice stirs me awake. At first I thought it was my mother, until I saw Caston and a pretty girl standing over me. Caston smiles and says, "Kayla, meet Amanda. She's a hunter of Artemis, but she is my sister and also child of Aphrodite. Drew doesn't like her because Amanda likes to go on quests."

Amanda says hi, and I notice the similarity between her and Caston. Amanda's dark glossy hair is tied up in a high braid, and her dark blue eyes sparkle against her smooth, brown complexion. However, I notice Amanda looking uneasy being next to Caston and I remember how the hunters of Artemis are supposed to swear off men.

"So, Kayla. I was informed by Artemis to ask if you could possibly join the hunt," Amanda casually says. Caston looks slightly alarmed and shrugs. I think for a moment and say, "I'll think about it." Amanda nods and replies, "Yes, think about it." Her voice sounds thick and sweet with honey, possibly how she charmspeaks. Unlike her brother, Amanda seemed to be superb at charmspeak, and I start to think about the pros and cons of joining the hunt. Joining the hunt would mean being closer with nature, so I might be able to see my nymph friends again. However, being a maiden hunter meant no men, and I want to enjoy a normal life of studying with a possible husband. I decide to sweat over it later.

Caston and I walk out of the cabin and he introduces me to the nicer Aphrodite kids. I don't really listen, so I wander off to a group of Athena's kids. They were pretty nice and we discussed about life's mysteries. It felt nice to know someone as intelligent as yourself. Caston comes later to bring me to play a game of Capture the Flag against the Hunters of Artemis.

We take our positions on one side of the river and Caston points out Amanda for me. She looks different, possibly from her demigod abilities, and her hair is a light blonde to reflect sunlight. However, she was very good at keeping the hair color and the colors kept switching back and forth. She soon gave up as the game started and let her dark braid swing behind her as she ran.

I go for the the edge of the field and shield myself in a forest. I had picked with Athena's kids moments ago. It was a long and delicate sword with a tip so sharp that the tip of a needle was probably thicker. I had tested out my sword on a few wooden dummies and it was sturdy and sliced up the dummies easily.

Suddenly, a whinny distracts me from my journey across the field. Another one follows, and as an arrow is shot and lands next to me, I know my danger: centaurs. Centaurs aren't the most dangerous of the creatures, but still plenty lethal. I made a mental to not touch their blood, and I slowly step away from the arrow. Zing. More fly out. One had a better aim and grazed my leg. I start running away from the centaurs and to the safety of the open field. As I cover a distance, the aim improves. One shoots a pain into my body as it digs into my leg. I will myself to keep running until my body won't let me. Another arrow wooshes past and hits my arm. The field was up ahead. A few more steps and I'll make it. Unfortunately, I could hear the centaurs trotting behind me. My stamina falters and I slow down. "Help!" I croak out.

A hunter hears me, and yells, "Duck!" She takes her bow and shoots the centaur closest to me. I collapse onto the ground while some other hunters lift me up and defend me. They take me to their jail. I sit on the soft grass, bleeding, while listening to the game go on. When Chiron blows his whistle for a second round, I slowly push myself across the field.

When I reach the end of the field, I slowly lower myself into the rushing current. As the water cleans my wounds, I notice the cuts disappearing. Another gift of the gods. They don't want me injured or dying, or else it would ruin their research of the Mist. I sit in the water for a few minutes until all my injuries are gone. As the game starts, I decide to go for defense instead. Bad idea.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

I walk over to guard our flags, now completely healed. People scramble around to follow their teams. Our captain lets me be one of the guards, but when I find out the other guard is Mark, I start to doubt my decision.

I move as far away from Mark as I possibly can, and while Mark is preoccupied disarming a hunter, I decide to sneak away. I run swiftly across the field until I hear Mark swearing loudly. "Kayla, you brat! Go disarm Zoë!" I'm confused until I notice a blur sprint past Mark. I observe closely to see a girl with dark-colored hair and copper-colored skin running towards our flags. She looked like a Persian princess, with a silver circlet and matching chiton.

I charge towards Zoë until she flings a knife towards me. This catches me off guard and I slow down. Zoë notices, and continues throwing knives at me. They purposely miss me, but sometimes she accidently aims a little better, so my arms are soon covered with small cuts. When Zoë runs out of knives, she starts shooting arrows at me. She's slightly better with her bow and arrows, and I have to slow down to pluck out the arrows that stick out like thorns on a rosebush. Despite Zoë's distractions, I manage to get closer to her, and it startles her. Zoë shoots an arrow at my shoulder, but at the last moment, the arrow is spun around and flies away from my shoulder. Zoë is flabbergasted but recovers quickly. She starts loading and reloading arrows towards nonfatal places that would still cause much pain, but the arrows avoid their targets. Zoë shock turns quickly into frustration and then anger. She stops to yell at the sky, "Mistress Artemis, your "games" are not funny. I am not amused." Zoë speaks with a thick accent and reminds me of Shakespeare. Unfortunatly, when I reach for her weapons to disarm her, she reflexively slaps my hand away. Zoë glares at me and shakes her finger as if saying "no".

"Did thee really think it would be easy?" she laughs. I'm stunned, and she uses it to her advantage and starts running towards the flag. While she runs with the flag across the field, I decide to take my sword and use it as a spear. I take aim and throw, unsure if my "spear" would make it. As the blade slices through the air and soars across the field, it falters enough to hurt Zoë without impaling through her arm. She yelps in pain, and lets my team disarm her. Despite my victory, another hunter makes it across with another flag, resulting in Chiron declaring the hunters' 55th victory in a row. My team groans, but Caston comes over to congratulate me on helping disarm Zoë. However, not everyone on the team was happy with me.

"Kayla, what were you doing?" I look up and see Mark marching towards me. He's sweating, covered with small splotches of blood, and growling. He takes his spear and punctures it into my arm. I cry out it pain and my vision fogs as Chiron and Caston pull Mark away. He resists though, and he charges right back to me. This time, his spear is forgotten and he takes my head and pounds it to the ground. Each throw is more forceful. "Kayla! You should have watched for other hunters other than Zoë! Now Phoebe got it!" His voice is pained as if he wished that his team would win again. When Caston charmspeaks Mark from beating me again, I feel helpless. With tears in my eyes, I stagger away from the crowd and into the forest.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

I run through the darkness of the forest and pass through the force field. I keep running and avoid any monsters that know I can see them. When I trip and fall over a tree root, I feel something hard in the front pocket of my jeans. After tending my scratches and wounds, I fish a small container out of my pocket. In the container is a sparkly pink dust. I twist open the container and rub some dust onto my eyes, thinking it was eyeshadow. Suddenly, I see everything a bit more clearly as if I had gone through the lasik eye surgery. I saw some strange Egyptian animal hybrids slinking around the shrouded darkness of the forest. Because I read enough about Egyptian mythology, I could tell they were griffins.

One griffin comes prowling towards me. He stares at me through gorgeous eyes that are the color and shine like the sun. He stops at a respectable distance and opens his beak. A booming sound comes out of the beast's beak, "Kayla, it is I, Horus. Because the griffin is a sacred animal of mine, and the gods are protecting you to fulfill their goal, I give you this griffin as a pet and companion. He will bring you to your next destination. Good luck!" Horus' voice fades away and the griffin caws.

I cautiously approach the creature and stare straights into his eyes. The griffin unfazed with my gazing and lets me pet it's body. His colors shine brightly, and soon we're up in the air. The speed was incredible, and I watched Camp Half-Blood get smaller and smaller until it was a small star in the fog of clouds. The griffin then flies higher up until the clouds are as small as cotton balls. When I look up, I see the blanket of whiteness that my friends and family never see. Guess that's part of the Mist. What made it so different was that it was fluffy and somewhat solid. I remember how little kids think that clouds are solid enough to eat and stand on. These clouds were the exception.

I prance through the soft ground and play with my griffin until the moon is high. My griffin then takes me to a large castle made of sparkly diamond. It reminds me of Jack and the Beanstalk, but I let my griffin fly us in there. He sets me on the gigantic sofa, and I sleep until the sun peeks through my eyelids.

"I'll name you Cloud," I say to my griffin. He caws in delight and flies me to the basement. On the way, we pass a giant who seems to have a sophisticated taste in appearance. Unlike the giants in the forest, she has silky robes and a pimple and scar free face. Cloud and I enter the basement, and I gasp in horror. Hundreds of rotting animals and people were occupying the many cells of the basement. I fly down to one cell where the people seem scared, not dying.

"Can you see through the Mist?" I ask them. They nod in fright while one middle-aged man declares, "I used to be able to. I still am, but not as well. I wasn't thankful for my ability when I was younger, I was just pleased. Being able to see through the Mist allowed me to see many of the beautiful nymphs who inhabited my home island in the Caribbeans. But I was extremely delighted when I had caught the eye of the most woman in the world." He smiles wistfully and his eyes seem distant. "She was wonderful, but after giving birth to my two beautiful children, she told me who she really was and needed to attend her duties." The man sighs, and continues, "I watched over my children until my daughter joined an elite group that had strict rules. They took my son with them so they could drop him off at a summer camp, and I grew lonely. I decided to travel around the world until I was captured by one of the giants who live here. I've been here ever since." His cellmates look bored, possibly because they have heard the story before, but I realize this must be Caston and Amanda's father. He looked similar to them, and I realize that underneath the wrinkles, he looked like an average version of Caston. I decide to interrogate Caston later.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Cloud caws loudly, as if saying, "Hurry up!" I thank Caston's father and mount Cloud. We fly out of the giant's castle and Cloud dives directly downwards. He lands gently onto the field of a schoolyard, and some kids excitedly scream, "Horsey!" Cloud prances away in fright from the mob of kids chasing him and I giggle.

"Kayla!" a hushed voice whisper yells. I turn around and see Caston and Carlos, a boy from Athena hiding behind some bushes. I join them and Caston wraps me in his arms. I feel secure and safe for a moment, encased with a boy who can talk his way out every situation. However, my curiosity gets me and I ask, "What are you guys doing here?" Carlos points to two girls swinging with each other. "See those kids? That one is a child of Aphrodite, the other one is a brain child." He uses the nickname for Athena's kids, and I immediately tell which one is which. Athena's child was yammering on about a project in class while Aphrodite's kept smiling to the many admirers around her. We approach them as they get off the swings.

"You don't have gray eyes!" Carlos shrieks as one of the girls turns to face him. They looked around ten-years-old and were very confused. "Of course I don't," Athena's child says calmly. "There's not enough genetics to prove that I had a possibility of getting gray eyes." "But you're a child of-" Carlos starts, but Caston clamps his hand of Carlos' mouth. When I see the girl clearly, I understand Carlos' shock. Most of Athen's children have gray eyes, whereas the girl had pine green eyes. She had the blonde hair, but it was extremely straight and smooth like polished stone. Aphrodite's child was probably one of the prettiest children to exist. She had stunning, icy blue eyes that was leveled by her roasted-marshmallow colored hair that melted into bouncy curls. When she smiled at Caston and me, her flawless pale skin turned a rosy pink.

"Girls, do you mind if I ask a personal question?" Caston asks. The girls shake their head, and Caston continues, "Do you have a biological mother?" Aphrodite's child shakes her head while Athena's makes a face a says, "I have a mom who looks nothing like me. She might not be my biological mother." Caston nods and calmly replies, "Promise not to freak out girls, but your actual mother is a Greek goddess. Yours is Athena and yours is Aphrodite." The girls grasp each other's arms and shriek silently in delight. Caston smiles as if saying, "Told ya," and I notice his eyes. Caston's eyes are framed with dark and thick eyelashes and his eyes are such a deep blue, it's closer to purple. I love the color and the way his eyes soften as he looks at the excited duo.

"What are your names?" Caston asks, pulling me out of my daze. "I'm Jenna, and that's Mia," Aphrodite's child says. Her voice is high but ladylike, sounding like tiny bells chiming against each other. "Usually at camp, we wait for your godly parent to send their signature sign, but after observing you two, we knew exactly who your parents were," Caston explains. Jenna and Mia nod in understanding, and resume their giddy dancing.

When we lead the kids back to camp, I tell them that I won't be joining them. In reality, I chucked rocks at another spot on the force field until it shattered. I crawled through the hole and spotted Jenna sitting by herself. She looked down, so I join her.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

Jenna's eyes turn a bitter blue like a snowstorm and she replies, "All my father ever told me to do is hate. He told me to not go searching for love, because it was going to trample my heart and leave me in tears. When I met Mia, I let my guard down as bit. Now, surrounded by people who are like me and don't have a parent, I'm not sure I can stay without breaking my father's philosophy." She turns to face me and I see small tears forming. "Kayla, is it okay? Is love sometimes good?"

I sigh and answer, "Love is a strange thing, but you need to face it or you'll never overcome your fears. People probably have had their hearts broken at least once, but we always have or need motivation to keep on going. Be strong, Jenna. And nothing can get to you." Jenna smiles at my speech, and gets up. She leads me to where Mia and her cabin were sitting.

I say hi to Carlos and the other Athena kids while Mia grabs onto Jenna and leads her to see the Athena cabin. A few minutes later, Mia comes out with several throwing knives while Jenna bears a bow and arrows, each shiny with hardened centaur blood. They look plenty lethal, especially with Jenna's dark clothes. Mia wears a bloodred coat and her hair is covered with the hood. Her green eyes sparkle as she smiles at the crowd. Jenna whispers something, and Mia hands her the coat. Jenna then slinks away and blends with the shadows. For the rest of the night, we never see her again.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

I wake up the next morning and see people gathering around Tantalus, who had replaced Chiron. He holds a letter in his hands and starts to read it. I quickly get ready and join the crowd.

"This is a letter that Jenna has wrote for us. She apparently traveled to the Underworld and is finding someone there. Ahem.

"Hello, I am currently writing from one of the many bedrooms in Hades' palace. I was traveling to the Underworld because I needed to retrieve something I had lost. I gave Charon his coin and met Persephone. She lead me to the palace. When I am finished with this letter, I will use one of the wind gods and let them transfer it to Chiron. I am extremely hungry here, but the food looks unappetizing…"

Tantalus was about to continue when someone runs down the hill and pants, "Clarisse… she has arrived with the Golden Fleece!" Everyone immediately runs up the hill to congratulate her. I notice Drew and her gang rolling their eyes and gossiping while Mark and Sherman nearly fly up the hill. When they reach the top, I hear several girly shrieks coming from their mouths.

When I reach the top, I see Chiron and other centaurs guiding Clarisse, who was holding the Fleece. And there Percy Jackson was, standing with a peculiar group consisting of a blonde, who I assumed was Athena's offspring, a satyr, and a cyclops. When I focused my attention back to the tree, the once hideous, dying tree became green and alive, and the border I had smashed through so many times became stronger and more stable. Suddenly, a teenage girl sprung from the roots of the tree, and I hear the blonde girl whisper, "Thalia?"

The strange root girl confirms this when she says, "I am Thalia, daughter of Zeus." A large, unison gasp comes from a great deal of the crowd, and people start murmuring between themselves.

"The prophecy, remember?"

"I thought Percy Jackson was going to be the prophecy."

"Which one of these people is going to be the hero?"

"I dunno. Maybe both?"

"That's not possible. Right?"

When the conversations die down, Chiron is declared innocent and rehired. Just like that, everyone goes back to their normal activities, with me lagging behind since I am mortal. It does not matter, because being Aphrodite's temporary child made an excuse for my failure.

The next six months pass by quickly. Mia had grown accustomed to Athena's cabin, so I rarely see her unless we were listening to one of Jenna's letters. Each time she sent one, they were brief and unclear. Jenna never tell us her exact goal, but would always describe the Underworld is great detail. If Jenna was a normal mortal, she could easily be a writer, for her descriptions made you feel the heat of Tartarus prickle against your skin, make you yawn with boredom when describing the Fields of Asphodel, and make you bawl your eyes out whenever she passes the River Cocytus.

When Thalia, who now fit in the camp while suffering from loneliness being the only child of Zeus (like Percy), was assigned to go fetch two demigod children, Mia pulls me aside and excitedly whispers, "Kayla, why don't we follow her and get a look at the children! We can use that strange animal you used to get to my school!"

I'm dumbfounded and say, "You saw my griffin?"

"That's what their called?" I nod.

"Well, can we use it?" Mia begs. I sigh. Mia had recently turned eleven, which was still pretty young compared to all the other demigods at the camp. She didn't know many of the dangers I had studied in Greek mythology and that some of the campers have probably faced, and I couldn't protect her very well.

"We can try," I say. Mia grins and jumps up and down, obviously pleased. I summon Cloud, and when Thalia takes off (with Percy and the blonde not far behind) we trail her through the sky.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Mia clutched onto my back as we flew through the sky. The fog was dense, with only the loud voices of Percy and his friends guiding us. When the fog clears, a huge, looming black fortress gleams in the distance. Mia shudders and observes, "This reminds me of those haunted mansions you see in the movies." I can't help but nod.

Down below, it seems as if Thalia had discovered her stalkers. Mia and I strained our necks to see Thalia, Percy, and his blonde friend Annabeth talking casually to a woman. The woman guides them inside, and we start to follow them. As we slink in the shadows, the woman shows the demigods the school dance. They thank her and stroll inside. Mia and I follow them stealthily.

The inside looks as medieval as the outside. In the dimly lit room, anyone could see that the walls were decorated with tapestries that depict imaginary feasts that kings have held and other whatnot. Realistic axes and other weapons are gleaming in the only few lights and an abundance of the protection are lodged in some animals' heads. Mia whimpered and whispered, "I hope those aren't real." I'm speechless.

Large group of girls and the occasional boy huddle in a large group. They seem to migrate from here to there, always surrounding a certain boy like bees around their beehive. The groups were extremely loud and would scamper away sniggering as the people they "attack" are sticky with kisses and look terribly ridonkulous with their new loose hair ribbons dangling down from their head. A majority of the boys in the room already looked like a Barbie makeover gone wrong.

I search the crowd for any signs of Thalia, but I stifle a scream when I see a hideous creature pace before her, Percy, and Annabeth. He has a lion body and scorpion tail that is dripping with dangerous looking spikes. The only human part of him, which is his face, looks odd with his two different eye colors. A manticore. Mia and I cautiously approach them while wary of the groups of girls.

"Hello. I have not seen you zree before. What brings you to zis school?" His words are drawled with thick French accent. We listen to their conversation closely and see a girl and a young boy doing the same. However, they do a much better job at covering up their eavesdropping. The girl was twirling the boy, who I assumed was her brother, and each time someone was facing the manticore, they would stare and listen intently.

I can immediately tell they were demigods by the way the manticore was looking hungrily at them. I tug Mia with me and we approach the two.

"A manticore," I say.

Even Mia looks confused. The boy looks at me, smiles, and digs around his pocket for something.

"Do you play Mythomagic?" he excitedly asks. He fingers through a number of cards he had fished out. "If so, I'm not sure picking the manticore to fight is a smart decision. You see, I have some really powerful ones, including Kronos (not to brag), who is like really strong and powerful and probably the best card. Now I also have Dionysus, but he's-" His sister silences him by shoving her hand against his mouth. The boy barely notices and keeps on ranting through muffled noises. "Dionushush, he's easili da weakes, don ever put HIM in a tournamen. Yool lose big time!" Mia giggles at his attempts to speak. I'm not amused.

"Listen. You two are special and I think that thing is trying to hurt you." I gesture to the manticore.

"Oh, him? That's our principal, Dr. Thorn. Whadiya mean, he's trying to hurt us?" the girl questions. Her brother has stopped talking and is inspecting the manticore, trying to see anything out of place.

"You mean, he's always part lion and scorpion?" I inquire.

The kids burst out laughing. After the boy pretends to wipe tears of laughter, he replies, "No, he's human. Strange, but human. Never would he be part animal. That would be cool, though."

It hit me. The Mist was probably hiding the manticore from broadcasting out his true powers. How the demigods couldn't see but I could was out of question.

"Okay… Anyways, your Dr. Thorn is actually a manticore and his kind try to hurt specific people like you two. Run with me and Mia while you can," I explain.

They look at each other and shrug. "We've traveled around and go to places. Why not go to a new one?" the girl says.

The boy nods and says, "Yeah, we'll come. I'm Nico di Angelo, by the way, and this is Bianca. She's my sister." We huddle against each other and walk out of the gym.

Suddenly, Mia screams. She turns around in a split second to show me the thorn lodged in her back. On my left, Nico yelps then he's on the ground. On top of him is Dr. Thorn, trying to tie Nico's failing arms. Bianca swears and tries to shove Dr. Thorn off her brother. He resists and grabs Bianca's collar so she faced him.

Mia has somehow taken out the thorn and throws her arms around Bianca to try to pull Bianca away. Mia screams for help but it comes out strangled and weak. I realize that I'm just standing in the chaos, and quickly try to help Nico, who's face was being squashed by Thorn's feet.

"Call… for… help…" Nico manages to cough out. Dr. Thorn swiftly clamps Nico's mouth, but Nico bravely chomps on it. Thorn draws it away on reflex, and Nico wriggles under the weight like a worm. I pull on his arm and get inspiration.

Before coming to Westover Hall, before being "reborn", before knowing anything about Percy Jackson and his world, I went to school. In kindergarten, we would garden with heavy shovels. I would swiftly jump on my shovelhead to push it down with my body's weight.

Thinking about that, I positioned my body so I was nearly horizontal. While keeping a firm grip on Nico, I swung my legs and stuck it to Dr. Thorn's body. I forced my weight onto my legs, slowly inching Dr. Thorn off of Nico. This had many beneficial results. I will get Dr. Thorn off Nico, hopefully break a few of his ribs, get a workout, and also know how to handle a shovel horizontally. While thinking about the positive outcomes, I didn't notice the rest of my friends get knocked out until Dr. Thorn punched me with his free hand.

Everything went black.


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: Garrott's appearance is based off of Hera's description in _Percy Jackson's Greek_ _Gods_ , so don't go telling me in the comments, "You got this wrong!" or whatnot. Also, I am going on vacation for spring break and won't be able to update chapters. :(**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

I woke up to the sound of yelling and thumping. With blurry vision, I make out the faint outlines and crackles of a fire. Two silhouetted figures appeared to be arguing. As my vision focused, I could see a handsome young man yelling at the manticore.

"Little boy," the manticore was hissing. "You have lots of guts for someone who hid his face for ten years."

The man's face goes red a mutters something like, "Don't you DARE to mention my childhood."

The manticore sneers and points a gnarled paw towards. "You can take here. I can't smell any god essence in her. Must be another mortal who can see through the Mist."

The man grunts and starts towards me. He unties my rope and I find myself flung over his shoulder like a sack of nothing. I decide to wake up and whisper, "Take the blonde with you."

He seems unfazed with my sudden awakening and asks the manticore, "Will you be needing any of the other demigods?"

The manticore shakes his shaggy mane. "You can take the Athena girl. Her blood won't revive me as much as the Hades kids."

I'm slightly taken aback. Hades? I had heard about the deal that the three major gods had made. The kids didn't look very old. Were they recently born or were their lives interfered with magic?

My space on the man's wide shoulders suddenly shrinks when Mia is also hoisted up. We bounce and shift slightly as he trods over the bumpy path. It's comfortable, not walking but just hanging limp from someone. After a while, I get bored and ask, "Where are we going?"

This is the man's cue to set me down and command me to walk. As I slightly trot beside him, he tells me that we are going to Hera's golden apple garden. "I'm well-known there," he assures me when seeing the look of terror flashing across my face. I'm skeptical, though. The apple garden is guarded by the terrible dragon Ladon and Atlas' imprisonment not so far.

"You sure?" I question.

He sighs and says, "I'll tell you my childhood. It'll explain everything.

"Not so long ago, Hera decided to give birth to another child. Her first one was horrid. Hephaestus was a constant reminder of her failure to make Zeus jealous. When they made the deal to not have any more children, it was Hera's cue to give birth again. It was hard for her, but she succeeded.

"I turned out to be even uglier than her previous baby, so she chucked me out her apartment window. Athena happened to be passing below, and I fell right into her arms. I got extremely lucky. Athena felt pity for me and nursed me for many years. I was ashamed of my face, though. Athena disagreed and said I was beautiful. When I was eleven years old, she decided to give me a birthday present by presenting me to Aphrodite.

"Athena told her story from her point of view. Aphrodite agreed and gave me as many good looks as she can. Athena prevented Aphrodite from changing my personality, thankfully. In the end, I turned into a good-looking boy and was ready to use my minor god powers. However, Hera found out my whereabouts and told me to not tell anyone I was her child. She threatened to make me mortal if I did. I didn't listen and told Athena my secret parentage. Hero uncovered this mistake quickly and performed the spell that got rid of my powers. It didn't work and I became a demigod. I still have enough Hera essence for the dragon to recognize me, and my human "parent" is Hera's favorite hero, Jason. I know, the guy who existed thousands of years ago."

I'm speechless at this story. Hera had another baby? It would make sense that she didn't tell anyone else. I studied him and realized despite given new looks from Aphrodite, he still looked extremely like Hera. The man had wavy hair that shined and was the color of obsidian. His eyes were large and brown. They were shaped like an ox's, sad and warm and regal. His skin was pale and body built like a muscular hero. I guess that came from his small connection with the hero Jason.

His voice is like Hera's, too. It's sweet and tender, like a mother talking to her baby, and it's also regal and proud, like a queen (or king) addressing her/his subjects. However, his is deeper and has hints of sadness.

Mia stirs after a while and starts jogging beside us. The man soon gets impatient and summons a golden cloud, which we jump on. I spot Cloud and whistle for her. When I get off the cloud to mount the griffon, the man sighs in relief.

"You people add weight to the cloud. It makes it go slower," he explains. "Follow me if you don't wanna get lost."

We ride silently for the rest of the journey when I ask him his name.

"Garrott Céleste, supposed to be roughly modified from the translation 'heavenly boy'," the man says. "I was born during the gods' stay at Paris. Athena wasn't feeling creative and just called me 'boy'. It was Aphrodite who gave the 'heavenly' part."

I smile. He probably fell from the higher rooms 'heaven', and his makeover probably impressed the goddesses.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

After some hours, Garrott stops us at the Hoover Dam. We hide ourselves in some bushes and scrub our faces. Now alert, I hear voices near us.

"Right now we are entering the Visitor Center. You will find many pleasing things to do here. Come right in."

It's a tour guide leading several bored middle schoolers into a building. The tour guide is slightly prettier than a regular woman, with shiny black hair pulled into a high ponytail and solemn, wise gray eyes.

"sdijflsejlkf," Garrott mutters.

"What?" I peer curiously at Garrott.

"It's her. Athena!" he frantically whispers.

I shrug and ignore him until I notice his frantic whimpers of longing. His face is pale and his wavy hair matted and damp from sweat. After the kids have gone inside and the guide is about to shut the door, Garrott comes out of hiding and flings his arms around Athena.

"Athena, ma mère!" Garrott cries. Silent tears drip down his face. To my surprise, the tour guide isn't confused by the sudden man who hugs her. Instead, she tenderly pats his shoulder.

"Garrott! I haven't seen you in many years," the woman greets.

On my right, Mia murmurs, "I guess she is Athena," and Mia trots out.

I remember Mia's godly parentage when Mia awkwardly says, "Uh… hi Mom…"

Athena walks over and pulls Mia into the embrace. They stand there for awhile when Athena says, "I have to go. My group is waiting for me." She disappears under the shaded doors.

Garrott takes out some pills from his backpack. "Swallow this," he tells us as he gives each one of us one pill. Mia looks at her cautiously while I open mine. Little small leaves tumble out and I reluctantly swallow them. Immediately my body is gone. No, invisible. Garrott swallows his own until I can't see him. He reappears though, and instructs, "This is a gift of Athena that allows you to be invisible at will. They last for an hour. When you are invisible, you are the air. This means you are not solid but cannot pass through solid object, although solid objects can go through you. You have no body heat or distinctive smell. This is useful when stalking monsters. Anything you touch will become invisible if you want, but only if you remain touching them. This is useful when carrying a weapon while stalking monsters."

Mia swallows hers and reappears quickly. I struggle. My body keeps on flashing like a TV screen that's flashing. I give up and let my shoes become visible. We enter the building and follow Athena's group. I nearly fall asleep listening to Athena talk about the "fascinating" and "interesting" facts about the dam. I came here before on a mission to conserve energy, so these mind-numbing tours were reviving the past I had shut out.

We all clamber into a narrow elevator when I hear guffaws coming from the back.

"Hey! Watch it! Ouch!" The struggles were nearly funny if it wasn't coming from Percy Jackson. He calls for help from the rest of his gang, but they are nowhere to be seen.

Garrott smirks and whispers, "He thinks he's superior for being a son of Poseidon, but wait til he meets the climax of the prophecy."

As the elevator reaches to a stop, everyone shoves their way out of the cramped space, resulting in Percy lagging behind with Athena. She seems to understand who he is, and starts a deep conversation with him. She soon leaves him, and as Athena walks back to her group, I see a flash of red near the elevator.

Leaving my friends, I run towards the source and find Percy swinging blinding through her. He bears a beautiful sword that shrinks into a pen. The girl is slightly confused, while Percy speaks with greater confusion.

"You can see my sword!" Percy declares, flabbergasted. The girl nods and Percy nearly shouts, "And you can see through the Mist!"

Out of nowhere, a whole pack of skeletons come crashing, brandishing swords. The girl makes a quick "I got this" comment while Percy dashes to the nearest hiding place, possibly to cower while pretending to strategize.

The girl talks to the skeletons and points to my direction. They scamper towards me, but I dodge it in the knick of time.

I will myself to become visible and I am delighted to see it work.

"Hello," the girl speaks up when seeing me.

"Hi," I awkwardly wave, and she replies, "You saw him too?"

I nod, and she extends a hand.

"I'm Rachel. Rachel Elizabeth Dare."


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N Persephone's description may not match many of yours, but remember, she has the ability to change her appearance.**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

After interviewing Rachel on possible ideas of seeing through the Mist, she reluctantly leaves to find her missing group. "It's been really nice to meet you. I hope to see you again!" she calls as she runs towards nothing in particular.

"Bye!" I call after her.

Garrott clucks in disapproval as he summons some more clouds. "Don't ever jump to conclusions again. Things can go wrong if you develop a habit of it."

Mia hops onto her little golden cloud after I fetch Cloud from his rabbit hunting excursion. "Are we going back to Camp Half-Blood?" she ask innocently.

Garrott forces a cold, hard laugh. "Home? We still haven't reached Hera's apple garden. Next stop is the Junkyard of the Gods."

After an hour or so, Garrott slides off his cloud while I awkwardly dismount Cloud. He screeches and sets off to find more rabbits. Garrott opens a pouch on his waist and pulls out something that wouldn't be able to fit in an average one.

"My brother made this," Garrott announces proudly, displaying the contorted contraption on the ground. It takes me a second to register his words when I realize he must be talking about Hephaestus.

Mia walks over and marvels about the way the bolts and screws and whatnot were placed. I tune out and go to investigate the junkyard. Just because I graduated (very) early does not mean I have to be excited about machines and other things.

In the middle of the rubbish was a huge robot like machine, rusty and limp. Smoke was seeping through the various joints. One of its feet had opened, sort of like a cellar door. I cautiously approached the opening, and instantly regret what I saw in there.

Bianca di Angelo lay unconscious on the floor of the foot, covered in dust and soot. A piece of metal seemed to be stuck in her neck. A scab had formed, but dried blood mixed with soil and other grimy things was caked over her neck and onto the floor.

Tears started trickling down my cheeks, for the horror of being part of this world was dawning on me.

Bianca di Angelo was dead.

I sat there, drowning in my steadily flowing tears, oblivious to the sound of my name being called from somewhere far, far away.

By the time Garrott and Mia find me, I was sleeping on the floor, probably as dirty as Bianca's corpse. Mia is horrified at the scene while Garrott bends down to touch (and possibly sniff) various places on the body.

"Seaweed, lightning, death, moon," he mutters. "Definitely Percy, Thalia, and that little brother of hers. I also think she joined Artemis' Hunt. Oh, and one of those Hesperides of Atlas." Garrott makes a face crossed between a grimace and an admiring expression.

I rack my brain for information about the Hesperides. From what I can remember, they are daughters of Atlas and their garden is where Hera's apple tree is. They are also supposed to be lovely.

"What's wrong with them?" I ask, trying to think of faults about the Hesperides.

"Most of them are selfish and vain," he spits. "They always try to charm me when I go there. It's annoying."

I'm silent until I notice the dead body again. Squinting, I see a large shadow looming over Bianca, its long fingers making a pulling movement.

Garrott notices this too, and calls, "Thanatos!"

The startled god appears quickly. I gasp. He was scary-looking with long dark robes concealing his face. Enormous wings protruded from his back, glittering in shades of purple and black. He stares up at Garrott, golden eyes gleaming, and says in a deep, lulling voice, "I am simply collecting her soul."

When he said that, I notice a shimmering gloop substance extracting from Bianca's body. It looked similar to me when I "died". "Bianca's soul," he whispers as he carefully placed it in a jar. Inside, her soul turns into translucent gas and forms into her body, like a ghost. Mia peers into it, and the ghost waves at her.

Thanatos starts to shrink back into the shadows until he remembers something. "Kayla," he says, "you're coming with me. Grab onto my robes."

I nervously grasp the hem, and when he disappears completely into the shadows, I'm sucked in with him.

Shadow travel is a horrible experience. I felt as if I was running at top speed through an incredibly dark tunnel. My legs and lungs gasped for air, but I could not stop. I was going so fast that my beads of sweat barely touched my skin before it was blown away. I could see Thanatos gliding in front of me, his robes billowing behind him, exposing his muscular legs. I could feel my legs cramping and my stomach digesting way too quickly. My lips and eyes stung from the wind and dryness. I wanted to die, have an easier way to get to the Underworld, give up the quest the gods gave…

"We're here."

I gasp for air, trying to catch my breath, until I double over and throw up. The ick disappears when it touches the dark ground.

I look around. The rocky ground is pitch black and random fires light up the scenery. I notice it matched Jenna's descriptions of the Underworld.

"Come," Thanatos says, gliding over to the River Styx's bank. He takes out several jars, unscrews them, gingerly sets down the souls, and watch them become gassy forms of their previous bodies.

Bianca di Angelo is one of them, and she notices me. "Kayla," she says.

I awkwardly wave to her then Thanatos says, "Come with me Kayla. The ruler wants to see you."

I follow him. When we reach the river, he holds out a hand and I take it. He then flies higher so I wouldn't touch the river currents, then he starts flying to a magnificent fortress.

I'm shocked at Hades' home. The walls and towers are made of gleaming obsidian and black marble. Ghostly lights illuminate the windows. Lava and other fiery liquids encircle the castle like a moat, with armed skeletons patrolling the borders.

Thanatos greets the skeletons and swoops inside. The entryway has a polished bronze floor and a large vase full of flowers made from jewels. Each room is more elaborate than the next. Thanatos leads me to the throne room.

The throne room was nearly empty except for Persephone and Hades deep in conversation. The goddess looked like crops in winter. Her hair is the color of grain; however, it seems to emit a gray aura, making it look like grain in winter's cold mist. Her dress is a faded green that seemed to be covered in frost. Her skin was a sickly pale, reminding me of a vampire.

Hades seems to be more stressful than the last time I saw him. His skin is also a sickly pale color while his black hair is damp and matted. Persephone keeps trying to calm him down and suggesting, "Let's go to the garden."

She notices me at the doorway and says, "Thank you for your services Thanatos. Will you please bring our visitor to the garden? We will be there shortly."

Thanatos gestures to me and I follow him. We walk through many rooms and take many turns, but finally he opens a large door and the room we are in is instantly flooded with light.

The dazzling garden is filled with lush trees laden with scrumptious fruits. I hear birds calling and the "sky" has clouds and a sun.

Persephone enters and she calls, "Come meet our guest Jenna!"

Tears fill my eyes when I see the girl I helped bring to Camp Half-Blood so long ago. Her curly hair is now waist-length and she's wearing black chiton. Jenna hugs me and I'm surprised at how tall she is. "Kayla," she whispers. "I'm sorry."

"About what?" I question. Persephone weakly smiles when Jenna says, "I might not leave this place. I'm happy here and I found my father."

I notice a ghost covered in soot and scars. His body is well-built and good-looking, with long ash blonde hair that covers his icy blue eyes that resembled Jenna's. He is pruning some trees and waves at me.

Persephone smiles, and it immediately changes her appearance. Her hair turns into a lovely pomegranate shade and her skin turns a light tan color. Her eyes are the same color as Mia's: a pine green shade. Persephone's dress seems to come to life; the mist goes away and the grass is dotted with blooming flowers.

When Persephone walks over to talk to Jenna's father, I notice bees appear where the dress ruffled.

Appearing from nowhere, Anubis starts to speak. "Kayla, you're going to my part of the world. Listen to the instructions I give you, and then go to the surface to summon Cloud. Come with me."


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: I'm really sorry I haven't been posting anything lately. My school collected my Chromebook (for summer), which I write everything on. New chapters might now come once in a while.**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

I open my eyes, staring straight into Garrott and Mia's blank expressions. Garrott pulls me up and demands, "Talk."

Confused, I stare at him as if saying, What? Garrott stares deep into my eyes, never breaking his gaze. I shift uncomfortably, not sure how to react to the gorgeous ex-god. "Why are you here?" he asks.

Looking at Mia and him's intense but slightly anxious stares, I understand. "Ahem," I clear my throat. "I am here to solve a mystery that has been bugging many gods. I'm here to solve the mystery of the Mist."

"Why you?" Mia questions.

"Because I can see through both Greek and Egyptian's Mist," I reply. Her eyes grows as large as saucers, and she whispers, "The Egyptian gods exist?" I nod.

Garrott scrunches his eyes in thought. "I'm pretty sure the Norse and Roman gods exist."

"Oh yeah," I remember. "Hades was shifting between forms when I first met him. He was also Pluto. Do you have a Roman counterpart?" Garrott shrugs and says, "I've never thought about it. If Hephaestus has one, maybe I do to."

Garrott thinks about the Roman gods, slightly more violent and more disciplined. His brow furrows in concentration, and Mia and I gasp at his new look.

The Roman Garrott is taller, bulkier, and his dark hair is longer, now flowing past his shoulder. His posture improved, and one shoulder was covered in purple and gold robes. "Hello, I am Peter," he booms. Peter then shrinks back down to Garrott, who still wore the glittering robes.

"Hey, I did it!" he exclaims. I snicker at his ridiculous smile (which resembled a five-year-old getting cotton candy) and he fakes a frown. "Don't judge," he squeals in a obnoxiously high voice.

I playfully punch him. "Is that your imitation of a girl. Sexist," I scold. He sticks his tongue out and I laugh. We smile at each other, until an awkward silence fills the air. Garrott clears his throat and looks away.

"So, where are we going next?" Mia asks.

I say, uncomfortably, "I, um-"

"I have to reach my destination. Come on, we must go to the Garden of Hesperides," Garrott butts in. He does a (surprisingly accurate) griffon noise, and Cloud comes romping towards. Garrott summons in some more clouds, which he and Mia climb onto, and I ascend on Cloud.

"I'm sorry, Anubis," I whisper. "I'll have to do it later."


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

After what felt like hours, we reach the base of a mountain. Garrott confidently walks towards a gleaming apple tree. "Ladon," he whispers." Garrott gestures to me and Mia to come forward.

I stifle a gasp when I notice a green, scaly thing, slither up the branch. I hack out a cough when hundreds of blinking, yellow eyes, peek out of the tree. "Remember me? Garrott?" Garrott warmly opens out his arms. "These are my friends. Do not hurt them. Got it? We aren't here to take apples."

Dragon-like heads poke out of the tree and nod. Mia whispers, "I think I peed."

Terrified, I gaze at the large, scary monster, that loomed over our heads. "Are you sure this is safe?" I rasp.

Garrott nods, completely confident. My fear increases when I hear singing coming from behind the tree and monster. Four beautiful women come dancing and singing a strange hymn. All four of them wear flowy white chitons and their dark hair tumbles down their shoulders carelessly but perfect. The Hesperides immediately spot us, and they flock towards Garrott.

"A boy!" the first one says.

"Wait, have we seen him before?" another Hesperide speaks.

"It looks like Hera!" the third one observes.

The fourth woman drops down to her knees. "Great goddess," she breathes. "I hope my sisters and I have not disrespected you. You may come out of your disguise."

Garrott bursts into laughter. "I'm not Hera. I'm her son!"

The woman turns pink. "Forgive me, Hephaestus. I was not aware that your have changed your appearance."

Garrott sighs. "I'm not Hephaestus, Hesperia. Thank you for your respect, though. I am a lesser known son of Hera. I'm here to see Atlas."

Hesperia bows. Behind her, the other Hesperides found a new topic to gossip about.

"Look at the two girls the handsome man has brought," the first one giggles.

"Are they sacrifices?" the second one asks.

"Girls, come dance with us!" the third one calls.

Mia eagerly nods her head, oblivious to their previous statements, and she steps forward but finds my disapproving hands in the way.

"No," I say. "The Hesperides are known for dancing other women to death. You don't wanna mess with them."

"Fine," Mia huffs. Garrott pulls us away, much to the Hesperides' despair.

"C'mon, you guys. We have to go see Atlas. I need to ask his take on the prophecy…"

The stupid prophecy again. At my months at Camp Half-Blood (which included watching the fireworks with Caston), most of the campers were hype about this mysterious prophecy that circled around the forbidden children of the "Big Three". Each one of them disobeyed their pact on not fathering more dangerous children (except for Hades, who just prolonged his children's ages). Percy and Thalia are no exception.

We crawl up the mountain, Laden creepily staring at us from below. When we reached the top, I saw a huge man holding up what looked like a thousand galaxies bunched up in the form of a large boulder. The man was imposing and the scary type of handsome. His muscles were tensed, like the boulder-sky-thing would fall onto him at any moment, and his arms (and back) were the only things keeping it from falling. Atlas, General of Cronos, grunted when he saw us.

"Whadiya want," he says before a gallon of sweat trickle into his eyes.

Garrott ignores this and the environment. He clears his throat, all businesslike. "Have you heard about the prophecy?"

"Uh… yeah. So?"

"Are you planning to rise against the gods with Cronos?"

Atlas' face turns the color of sunflower. His eyebrows furrow deeply, either from reacting to the sweat or being exposed of his grand plans to take over the world.

"Depends," Atlas grunts. "Cronos is going to be much more powerful, and this time, he might win."

Garrott raises an eyebrow. "But what if the gods win again? Are you ready to be subjected to an ever harsher punishment?"

Atlas lets out a snort that turned into wheezing. "Why are you being loyal to the big guys up there? Didn't Hera, goddess of families, toss you out? Don't you crave revenge for being turned into a mere mortal?"

Garrott's nostrils flared. Mia gives Atlas the stink-eye. "What do you know about the gods?" Garrott hissed, stepping closer to the Titan. "I might detest Hera, but I'll let you know, not all of the gods are terrible. Also, being mortal is so bad, once you get used to it."

"I admire his loyalty," a soft voice comes from behind Atlas. The Titan's eyes grow as wide as porridge bowls. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, well, at least before more sweat dripped into his eyes.

"It's great," Atlas squeaks, obviously attempting to mimic the voice. It came out like a strangled cat's mew, rather than a calm, mellow, more feminine sound. I sniggered along with Mia, causing Atlas to turn the color of sunflower again. "Besides," Atlas snaps. "Didn't becoming mortal mean you can't visit that girl again? What was her name, Euterpe or something?"

Garrott ignores the comment and attempted to look behind the man's large body. "Who's there?" Garrott asks.

"None of your business," Atlas growls, baring large teeth.

However, it became our business when a bunch of girls and a startled Percy tromped up the hill. "M'lady?" calls the girl in front, who I recognized as Zoë.

"'M'lady'…?" I say, peering at Atlas, who was sweating bullets. "Is it, Artemis?"


End file.
